While looking for noodles at King Soopers in Louisville, the bouncy studio version of “Scarlet Begonias” by The Grateful Dead started playing overhead. The sound of the 50-year-old tune didn’t make me feel old. I was just impressed that Kroger’s playlist ran deeper than the same old biggest hits of the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s.
A recent food research project took me to almost every supermarket chain in Boulder County. With so many hours spent in the aisles, it was easy to obsess about the music each store chose to make me hear.
It turns out that, like me, some grocers think a lot about their sonic ambience. Others, not so much.
“Not every business pays close attention to the music they play, but some want to make shopping a multi-sensory experience,” says David Rahn, co-founder of Boulder’s Custom Channels, a firm that programs playlists for retail establishments including grocery stores. “They want the lighting, how things are displayed and the music all dialed in.”
Rahn and his partners, John Bradley and Ray Skibitsky, played critical roles in creating the nationally known AAA radio sound in the 1980s that locals loved on Boulder’s KBCO. After teaming to help radio stations program music similar to KBCO’s, Custom Channels began using new internet technology to stream music directly to businesses.
“Our first and biggest client for many years was Whole Foods Market,” Rahn says. “We started with the Boulder Pearl Street store and by 2019, we were streaming music to 450 [locations]. We made sure it sounded different than the music at King Soopers or Safeway and appealed to the sensibilities of the Whole Foods shopper.”
As tempting as it may be to bring your own music into your business or workplace, Rahn warns against it. You may get a warning or fine from licensing organizations such as BMI and ASCAP.
“If you’re playing music as any part of the ambience,” Rahn says, “whether it’s a dental office or a grocery store, you’re supposed to pay license fees for the commercial use of that music,” Rahn says.
No live Frampton or drum solos
There are definitely some do's and don'ts when it comes to mood-setting music.
“I know when things sound good and [when] they don’t sound good,” he says. “There’s one Boulder grocery store I shop at sometimes where I heard a long Frampton Comes Alive track with all the audience noise. That may be fun to listen to in your car, but it just didn’t fit. The same supermarket played this long Jimi Hendrix tune that just went on and on and was grating.”
Similarly, live tracks and long drum or guitar solos and jams are typically verboten at the deli counter, according to Rahn.
“We talk about tempo a lot,” he says. “Even songs you think are fairly fast can really drag in that big-box environment. There are a lot of songs with high beats per minute that feel slow.”
Heavy metal for the night shift
Anyone who has ever worked in a store, retail space or office ends up loathing certain songs that get repeated on background music loops.
“They might be awesome songs, but when you’ve heard them a thousand times, they get old,” Rahn says. “With this world of background music, you have to include things that aren’t hits in order to extend playlists that fit the vibe. We can update the music every day and make sure it’s never the same songs in the same order.”
The music you hear at Safeway during the day also won’t necessarily be what workers hear when no customers are around.
“I’ve had a lot of stores say: ‘Once the store closes at 10, can you just switch over to heavy metal for the stockers to work to overnight?’ Like with the radio that we’ve done, we’re trying to set a mood.”
Supermarket music in your home
A few decades ago, shopping music was an afterthought and supermarket sound systems often crackled.
While many customers today wear earbuds and shop to their own playlists and podcasts, supermarket soundtracks are a thriving concern. Many chains offer Spotify lists of their in-store music. Apple Music offers a 101-song, five-hour grocery shopping playlist of favorites.
Custom Channels also helps supermarkets create custom channels and playlists for customers.
“When we worked with Whole Foods, we created a livestream of their music you could access. We also curate Spotify playlists for stores,” Rahn says. “You’re not putting 3,000 songs on those, just 50 or 75.”
According to Rahn, his Custom Channels partner, John Bradley, puts their overall mission best.
“John says: ‘We program music for people who can’t change the channel.’”